Groupe PSA – the maker of Peugeot, Citroen, DS and Opel/Vauxhall vehicles – has started production at its new $630 million Kenitra plant in Morocco, near the capital Rabat.
The project started with an agreement between the carmaker and Morocco in June 2015, and with the completion of Kenitra, PSA says it now has a “complete ecosystem” in the kingdom. The new factory joins a steering centre based in Casablanca for the Middle East and Africa region, and an operational R&D centre.
The French company says that it’s the only carmaker to cover the entire value chain in Africa. This ecosystem includes a network of 62 local suppliers, with 27 new supplier sites set up to meet the needs of the Kenitra plant.
“At the heart of the Middle East and Africa region, Morocco is an historic and strategic market for our group and its four brands, Peugeot, Citroen, DS and Opel. We are forging a unique partnership in Morocco’s automotive industry, thanks to the help of all our partners and the support of the Moroccan authorities,” said Jean-Christophe Quemard, Executive VP Middle East & Africa, and member of the managing board of Groupe PSA.
The new factory has a production capacity of 200,000 vehicles per year, and will serve customers in 80 markets. Output will initially be 100,000 cars in 2020, before reaching maximum capacity by 2023.
Kenitra is set up for to produce cars on PSA’s latest Common Modular Platform (CMP) architecture, with the new Peugeot 208 the first model to roll out. The B-segment hatchback is also made at the Trnava plant in Slovakia.
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200k capacity. PSA Peugeot alwiz the gooder option then Geely ,
200k for 80 countries means only a pitiful 2,500 cars for Morocco market. Geely promised 10k cars for every market, so Geely is the gooder option then PSA.
Abesla Algeria! PSA has moved their assembly to Morocco now! This is the problem with these brands, they don’t stay for long. If they had a big stake in the local company (eg like Geely did), they won’t have moved so easily.